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Ponzi's Scheme
- The True Story of a Financial Legend
- Lu par : Grover Gardner
- Durée : 9 h et 57 min
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Ponzi's Scheme
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Description
You’ve heard of the scheme. Now comes the man behind it. In Mitchell Zuckoff's exhilarating book, the first nonfiction account of Charles Ponzi, we meet the charismatic rogue who launched the most famous and extraordinary scam in the annals of American finance.
It was a time when anything seemed possible - instant wealth, glittering fame, fabulous luxury - and for a run of magical weeks in the spring and summer of 1920, Charles Ponzi made it all come true. Promising to double investors’ money in three months, the dapper, charming Ponzi raised the “rob Peter to pay Paul” scam to an art form and raked in millions at his office in downtown Boston. Ponzi’s Scheme is the amazing true story of the irresistible scoundrel who launched the most successful scheme of financial alchemy in modern history - and uttered the first roar of the Roaring 20s.
Ponzi may have been a charlatan, but he was also a wonderfully likable man. His intentions were noble, his manners impeccable, his sales pitch enchanting. Born to a genteel Italian family, he immigrated to the United States with big dreams but no money. Only after he became hopelessly enamored of a stenographer named Rose Gnecco and persuaded her to marry him did Ponzi light on the means to make his dreams come true. His true motive was not greed but love.
With rich narrative skill, Mitchell Zuckoff conjures up the feverish atmosphere of Boston during the weeks when Ponzi’s bubble grew bigger and bigger. At the peak of his success, Ponzi was taking in more than $2 million a week. And then his house of cards came crashing down - thanks in large part to the relentless investigative reporting of Richard Grozier’s Boston Post.
In Zuckoff's hands, Ponzi is no mere swindler; instead he is appealing and magnetic, a colorful and poignant figure, someone who struggled his whole life to attain great wealth and who sincerely believed - to the very end - that he could have made good on his investment promises if only he’d had enough time. Ponzi is a classic American tale of immigrant life and the dream of success, and the unexpectedly moving story of a man who - for a fleeting, illusory moment - attained it all.
Commentaires
"Zuckoff...tells Ponzi's story amicably and briskly, and keeps the complicated financial intricacies understandable." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Zuckoff's biography of Ponzi is meticulously accurate, based on memoirs and newspaper accounts of the day, weaving the story of the rise of this small-time Italian immigrant with that of Richard Grozier, second-generation editor of the Boston Post." (Booklist)
“For Charles Ponzi, a poor Italian immigrant with big dreams and grand schemes, the streets of America truly were paved with gold. In Mitchell Zuckoff’s hands, the get-rich-quick saga of Ponzi is a portrait of America in the Roaring Twenties - a time of innocence and greed, of rogues, rascals, and reformers. It’s hard not to root for Ponzi as he tiptoes along a financial high wire of his own creation, high above his immigrant investors cheering him on and the Boston Brahmins hoping for him to fall. Zuckoff spins a tale rich in intrigue, corruption, betrayal - and love. It is a story that resonates today, in an age of financial scandals ranging from Enron to Martha Stewart.” (Mike Stanton, author of The Prince of Providence)
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Ce que les auditeurs disent de Ponzi's Scheme
Moyenne des évaluations utilisateurs. Seuls les utilisateurs ayant écouté le titre peuvent laisser une évaluation.Commentaires - Veuillez sélectionner les onglets ci-dessous pour changer la provenance des commentaires.
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Global5 out of 5 stars
- W.Denis
- 21/03/2005
A great book
I have seldom enjoyed a book more, and Grover Gardner's reading as always is the best! An inciteful look at the 20's and at the shambles that was (and still is?) Boston politics.
9 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global3 out of 5 stars
- D. Littman
- 29/04/2005
An odd book
What does this book have going for it? It has a great narrator & a brisk style of writing. What does this book have going against it? Alot of extraneous material shoved in to make it thicker, a fairly despicable main character who is painted somewhat sympathetically by the author, a relatively simple-minded fraud (unlike two other books on tape I have recently listened to off of Audible -- on Enron & on LTCM) that does not have enough finance intricacy to be of significant interest. Oh, I should say that the book is probably worth reading just so you know where the term Ponzi scheme came from. I am sorry that I am not more enthusiastic about it.
8 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global5 out of 5 stars
- Celia
- 11/11/2005
Very enlightening
Having heard of a Ponzi Scheme nearly all my life, it was very, very interesting to find out where and how it all started (and ended). This certainly falls into the "...it seemed like a good idea at the time..." category. I enjoyed this book very much.
7 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 01/04/2006
Interesting
Everyone has heard of the term Ponzi Scheme, and this book details his life. Very entertaining, great reader. Ponzi was a nut.
5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global4 out of 5 stars
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Interprétation4 out of 5 stars
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Histoire4 out of 5 stars
- Robert
- 20/05/2012
Surprise yourself! Sympathize with a crook!
Where does Ponzi's Scheme rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
About the second or thrid best book I've listened to.
Who was your favorite character and why?
It is hard not to sympathize with Charles Ponzi, who had a brilliant idea put forgot to put the paperwork in the mail. And forgot to do the real work too. But by selling his efforts as "Helping the little man", became everyone's hero.
What about Grover Gardner’s performance did you like?
His reading speed is brilliant, and the subtle way in which he emphasizes important quotes makes listening very easy and entertaining.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes.
3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global4 out of 5 stars
- S. Jackson
- 15/04/2010
A Business Biography that Reads Like Novel
I really enjoyed listening to this book. The author doesn't overdo the coverage on any part of Ponzi's life, or spend time going over pointless antidotes that don't serve the purpose of illustrating either a pivotal moment or the character of Ponzi. As a result, the story moves along at a really nice pace and is never too slow or boring.
The narration was also really good - as good as it gets in my opinion. Some narrators are really boring to listen to, but this guy (Grover Gardner) did such a great job I felt that his narration added to the interest of the story. Some narrators sound like they just got woken up from a nap to do a reading, but Gardner's treatment is upbeat and lively.
I felt listening to this book was time well spent and worth the purchase/credit.
3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global4 out of 5 stars
- irene
- 14/04/2009
Good read
A truly fascinating story that is set up very well by the author in order to have the reader understand the context of how Ponzi could coordinate such a scheme(scam). There is a bit more information than is necessary, like the entire college history of who turns out to be the main antagonist, but it was worth it in the end. This is moxie beyond imagination........
3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global5 out of 5 stars
- Robert
- 20/01/2009
Excellent if you like history and business
This book is excellent. As this book provides the color of the 1900 - 1920's in Boston, it provides an entertaining account of the flawed optimist Charles Ponzi rags to riches to rags story. Nicely written and well read.
3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global5 out of 5 stars
- Nan
- 27/03/2006
Wonderful
I love this kind of historical books! Easy and pleasureable to listen to while learning.
3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global4 out of 5 stars
- Martin
- 13/07/2005
Informative and entertaining
This is the type of publication that is perfect as an audiobook. The author tells the facts about Ponzi, in a way that makes it as entertaining and dramatic as good fiction. There?s a lot of material on the subject of Ponzi and Boston in the 20?s, and I?m sure some of it could have been left out without compromising the book. But it is an entertaining insight in the man, Ponzi, and in the mechanisms that lead to the dramatic end of the story.
3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile
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Global5 out of 5 stars
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Interprétation5 out of 5 stars
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Histoire5 out of 5 stars
- Alexander
- 14/02/2017
Ponzi & marketing of the dream getting rich fast
Reading the story about the Great Crash 1929 which mentioned Ponzi I was intrigued to buy this book.
Out of a simple idea related to a currency speculation on the basis of a postal international cooperation Ponzi developed a business which could attract investors. The definition of greed is to expect 50% interest in 45 days. Ponzi made the right marketing and PR to attract such greedy believers, to manage them and the relation to the authorities. He got greedy too, shopping businesses every day and the fought against the fall, a deep fall.
His business model got a term in the financial industry: Ponzi's scheme ...
A great story told in the right way.
I like the speaker, somehow the right voice for this story of greed.
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Global2 out of 5 stars
- Enzensberger
- 01/04/2011
Schade um die vertane Chance...
Das Buch ist ein schillerndes Bild des vielleicht größten Betrügers der 20er Jahre und seines Imperiums aus Seifenblasen.
Leider verdirbt der Sprecher die Faszination des Bösen bei Ponzi völlig indem er ihn immer wie Super Mario sprechen läßt... So kommt keine rechte Spannung auf und der verwirrende Erzählstrang verläuft sich völlig.